Ecommerce players crying foul on state imposing tax

New Delhi: Several states in India have started imposing entry tax on goods purchased online, which has made the ecommerce companies feel that the decision is unfair. Some of the states including, Uttarakhand, Bihar and

India TV Business Desk [ Updated: March 15, 2016 13:17 IST ]

ecommerce

New Delhi: Several states in India have started imposing entry tax on goods purchased online, which has made the ecommerce companies feel that the decision is unfair.

Some of the states including, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Assam have already started imposing an entry tax on goods purchased online. An entry tax to be specific is a tax states impose on goods coming in from another state.

Also many other states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, are considering imposing the same tax.

An industry official told a leading daily that entry tax is wrongly being applied on ecommerce firms and that states were looking for easy ways to earn revenues even as the goods & services tax (GST) is being delayed.

The tax, which is imposed on the courier agent delivering the goods, will lead to an increase in prices of goods sold online alleged the top ecommerce companies. The companies also said that they are planning judicial remedy, individually as well as collectively.

Sudhanshu Gupta, vice-president (business) at Paytm on the entry tax issue, said to ET, "What's the point of the entire 'Make in India' if you can't sell without barriers to all the people in India?"

The country's top etailer, have called the charges "discriminatory" and have filed a court order through its in-house logistics arm Ekart Logistics in the high court of Uttarakhand in Nainital. And the matter is expected to be heard later this week.